HAVANA - The Western Yell County School Board reluctantly accepted the resignation of superintendent Laura Lewis during its regular meeting Monday night.

Lewis, who has been with the school district for 22 years, the last six as superintendent, will retire at the end of the school year.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work for the Western Yell County School District for 22 years," Lewis stated in her resignation. "However, I feel that it is time for me to retire. Therefore, I am tendering my resignation to be effective on June 30, 2005. With my vacation days, personal days, etc. my last day will be June 3, 2005."

Lewis was a teacher for one year at Dardanelle before moving over to Western Yell County. She taught chemistry, physics, journalism and oral communications for 11 years before becoming the principal, a position she held for five years until taking the superintendent's position for the last six.

School board president Hoover Willard said the district will start advertising immediately for a replacement. The deadline for applications will be Feb. 10.

The board also discussed the state facility report they had received. Many areas were named deficient, but some confused the board, like "sidewalk missing at high school" and "flagpole needs replacing at the elementary school".

The district has until Jan. 31 to make corrections or point out any errors. The board voted to let Leo Holstein, a journeyman and former district employee to take the list around and prioritize what needed to be done first and which were the most cost-efficient.

Holstein will have until Jan. 26 to complete the work. He will be paid $25 an hour for his services.

In other business:

High school principal Barry Fisher requested that boys basketball coach Alan Stark be permitted to use the home the school district owns in Havana. Stark was originally allowed to use the home, but said he prefers to just travel to and from his home in Casa.

Fisher stated that Stark lives in Bigelow and must travel more than an hour each way to and from work. The board agreed to allow Stark to use the home for the rest of the school year. They added they may need the house back for the new superintendent to use next year, but if not, the coach could use it then as well. Stark will be responsible for the utilities.

The board said they will present a plaque to former board member Ron Jackson at a later meeting for his years of service.

The board rescheduled February's board meeting to Feb. 15 due to a conflict on the third Monday, the usual day of the meeting.

Fisher announced to the board the athletic department will host two concurrent softball tournaments Feb. 26 for men and women. The proceeds from the tournament will go toward paying umpires for the upcoming high school baseball and softball seasons.

"Not many schools have their own fields, so we play a lot of home games," Fisher said. "We don't charge for the games, so we needed a way to raise money to pay the umpires."